Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus that can perform data communication by establishing a one-to-one wireless link as a result of being approached by a partner apparatus such that the distance therebetween is within a predetermined range, a method for controlling the same, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, smartphones and the like have started utilizing close proximity wireless communication technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), and TransferJet™. Users are able to transmit and receive data such as image data and addresses between two smartphones simply by moving the devices close together (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-221355).
The NFC Forum (http://www.nfc-forum.org), which is a NFC standards body, has standardized protocols for performing handover to wireless communication systems that differs from NFC such as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth™. The NFC Forum defines two systems for handover in NFC, namely, negotiated handover and static handover. Negotiated handover is a system in which the two-way communication mode supported by NFC is used by a communication apparatus to negotiate a wireless communication system to handover to with a communication partner apparatus. On the other hand, static handover is a system in which the communication apparatus stores the wireless communication system to handover to in a NFC tag (hereinafter “tag”), and causes a reader/writer serving as the communication partner apparatus to load the wireless communication system.
By realizing handover using NFC, a fast Wi-Fi or Bluetooth communication path can be established simply by moving two smartphones close together, thus enabling bulk data to be transmitted and received (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-207069, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-182449). Cameras equipped with a tag are also being commercially produced, and a function for implementing handover to Wi-Fi by holding a smartphone equipped with a reader/writer in proximity to such a camera has been realized.
A method such as the following is available as a specific method of implementation in the case of handing over to Wi-Fi, using static handover as the system for handover in NFC. That is, this method involves the communication apparatus storing Wi-Fi communication parameter information (SSID, passphrase, etc.) in a tag, and establishing a Wi-Fi connection by causing a reader/writer serving as the communication partner apparatus to read the stored communication parameter information. There are security issues in the case of using this method of implementation, since communication parameter information on a tag could possibly be read out and a Wi-Fi connection established by the reader/writer of a third party that is not the original communication partner apparatus.